During the reporting period, the United Nations Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa held two ministerial meetings. The forty-third meeting was held in Sao Tome from 28 November to 1 December 2016 and the forty-fourth meeting was held in Yaoundé from 29 May to 2 June 2017. Both meetings were organized by the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA), in its capacity as secretariat of the Committee.

KINSHASA, Sep. 25, 2017 - The Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of MONUSCO, Maman Sidikou, is gravely concerned by the use of lethal force by Congolese defense and security forces in response to public protests in Bukavu, South Kivu province, leading to civilian casualties including children.

According to the National Society’s assessments carried out in the past weeks, a heavy increase in the influx of refugees has been recorded, straining the capacity of the reception and transition centres (TC). The recent increase has triggered an immediate scale-up of the National Society’s activities in order to support and to increase the capacity of the existing transit centres as well as to allow for support outside the centres. The assessment has indicated that the trend is likely to continue, and that the National Society’s interventions may need to be further scaled up.

Between 27 April and 25 September the number of suspected cholera cases has surpassed 738,700 including 2,118 associated deaths. The number of new cases per week at the country level has stabilised since the last week of August, but the waterborne disease continues to infect an estimated 5000 people per day. The five most affected governorates as of mid-September are al Hudaydah, Amanat al Asimah (Sana'a city), Hajjah, Amran, and Dhamar.

No new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in the past week. The total number of WPV1 cases for 2017 remains six. The most recent case in the country had onset of paralysis on 10 July, from Zabul province, neighbouring Kandahar province and Pakistan.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017 — Since the cholera epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was declared on 9 September, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has treated 17,000 people after setting up around 30 units and treatment centres. The outbreak has already spread across 20 provinces, representing one of the largest cholera outbreaks seen in DRC, and has not yet been brought under control. MSF is urging for increased prevention and awareness-raising activities, and for more organisations to respond in tackling the epidemic.

This weekly bulletin focuses on selected acute public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 46 events in the region. This week’s edition covers key ongoing events, including:

On September 15, 2017 - The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugees (MIDIMAR) in partnership with UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have launched the use of cooking gas in Nyarushishi transit centre, in Rusizi District, to improve health and reduce environmental damage caused by the excessive use of firewood.

The new gas program was launched by Hon. Mme De Bonheur Jeanne d’Arc and the UNHCR Head of Field Office, Mr. Ben Boubacar Diallo, .

At the end of June 2017, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) hosted 40,015 Burundian refugees, out of whom 38,133 reside in the province of South Kivu including 30,030 in Lusenda Camp, 6,670 who reside in host families, and 1,427 who remain in transit centres. An additional 1,882 Burundians are living with host communities in Katanga, Maniema and North Kivu Provinces.

African advocates, pioneers, and thought leaders of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, together with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, took stock of the achievements and challenges for women building sustainable peace on the continent at a high-level event on 22 September during the 72nd General Assembly.

“If peace processes do not include women, civil society and youth, they are not sustainable,” Børge Brende summarized the common understanding motivating all panellists in their endeavour.

Lying on a well-worn mattress strapped onto a bicycle overloaded with household items, and pushed hastily by his older siblings, the little boy was fast asleep. He was exhausted from a punishing trek that families are forced to take to escape persistent tensions in several towns and villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC’s) conflict-hit Kasai region.

(Kinshasa, September 26, 2017) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should immediately and unconditionally release nine Congolese human rights and pro-democracy activists wrongfully detained for their participation in peaceful activities, 45 Congolese and international human rights organizations said today. Four activists were arrested on July 14 and 15, 2017 in Mbuji-Mayi and five others on July 31 in Lubumbashi.

YOUNG REPORTER – Goma, one of the most beautiful cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is situated at the edge of Lake Kivu. Nevertheless, the lack of water remains a problem for this city where the cholera epidemic is a reality.

Three pumps for more than a million inhabitants

Three pumps of the Public Water Company are operational for a city of more than a million inhabitants. The city of Goma is divided into two big communes: the commune of Goma and that of Karisimbi.